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A Guide to Omni

A guide to Omni, an academic search tool that gives you access to information resources from McMaster and other participating Ontario university libraries.

Cite Sources

To quickly cite the item in a record, select the quotation mark icon " located on the right side of the brief record (or in the Send to section of the full record).

Citation in Omni

In the Citation pane, select one of the citation style options available ...

  • APA (7th edition)
  • Chicago (17th edition)
  • Harvard
  • MLA (9th edition)
  • Vancouver

When the formatted citation is displayed, select Copy citation to clipboard link and then paste (Ctrl-V) the citation to a document or window.

NOTE: Review these auto-generated citations for accuracy and completeness.

Export Sources

Omni allows you to export a record to other applications (such as print, email, and citation managers) from the brief display, full display, and My Favourites > Saved Records pages. In addition, records can be exported in bulk from the brief results page and the My Favourites > Saved Records page.

To export a record describing an item, select the three dots ( ... ) located on the right side of the brief record (or go to the Send to section of the full record) to display the options available.

Export options in Omni
 

  • Email - select this icon to send a record's details and link, locations, and availability information to a specified email address. To send to email, enter a complete email address and select Send.  If you are signed in to Omni, a Note field will appear which allows you to include an optional note with the email.
     
  • Permalink - select this icon to create a permanent link to the full record in Omni. When the permalink is displayed, select Copy the permalink to clipboard link and then paste (Ctrl-V) the link to a document or window. Permalinks are persistent, stable URLs that can be shared with others on web pages and in course management systems like Avenue to Learn.
     
  • Export BibTeX - select this icon to export the record to BibTex format, and save it in a file. To export to BibTex format, choose a file encoding and then select Download. NOTE: This file format is typically used in conjunction with LaTeX.
     
  • Export to Excel - select this icon to download a record's details and link to an Excel or CSV file. To export the record to a file, choose a file type and then select Download. NOTE: When using the CSV file type for non-Latin languages, it is recommended that Notepad be used to open the file, but if Excel is preferred, be sure to use UTF-8 encoding.
     
  • Export RIS - select this icon to export the record to RIS format, and save it in a file. To export to RIS format, choose a file encoding and then select Download. NOTE: This file format works with many citation managers such as EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero. If prompted to pick a filter in your citation manager,select ProCite RIS. 

  • EndNote - select the icon for this citation manager to export the record to your personal EndNote account. NOTE: McMaster University has a site license for the latest version of EndNote - visit our EndNote guide to learn more.

  • Mendeley - select the icon for this citation manager to export the record to your personal Mendeley account. When selected, Omni prompts you to connect to your Mendeley account. If you see the message, Primo VE Integration would like to connect to your Mendeley account, select Connect account - this message should only appear on initial setup. Once connected, Omni automatically exports the record to Mendeley. If the export is successful, an Exported to Mendeley: message in yellow appears at the top of the page: Successfully exported to Mendeley

  • Print - select this icon to send the record's details, locations, and availability information to a specified printer.
     

To export several records at one time, select multiple items using one of the options described below.
NOTE: A maximum of 50 records can be exported at once. Bulk exports are not available for Citations and Permalinks.

  • Individual Selection: On the brief results page only, select the checkbox next to each item of interest.
  • Page Selection: On the brief results page only, select the checkbox that appears above the results to select all items on the page. After loading another page of results, select this checkbox again to include that page's items in the export.
  • Top 50 Selection – On the brief results page only, select an item or all items, and then select Choose Top 50 Results to select a maximum 50 records in the list.

Once items are selected, click the three dots ( ... ) at the top of the brief results page to display export options

Export Many Selected Items in Omni

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